Dangerous games
by designislife1
Summary: AU. After the Scarlet Guard attacks the palace in retaliation for the failed revolution a Queen dies, but another might resurface. Mare doesn't understand why Maven wants her to be his wife, after everything they have been through, but with a family and friends to protect she will take this chance to make things right once and for all. She will have to be his Red Queen.
1. Chapter 1

People say that when you make a huge mistake you'll have time to heal. You'll realize that it wasn't entirely your fault and you will learn to forgive yourself. Or that maybe it was your doing, maybe you brought that misery on yourself and you'll learn to make yourself better so you don't make the same mistake again. You'll grow wiser, choose your friends morecarefully.

I know that what happened wasn't entirely my mistake, even though I played a great part in it. I know I was deceived, that I wanted to believe in something so badly I trusted the first ray of sunshine in a dark night, only to get sunburned. So consumed with rage and pitiful hate that I wanted nothing but revenge and I refused to see the good in my enemy, and the bad in my friends.

I realize my mistakes, but I also know I'll never grow old to make them right, to make myself better. I will die as I am now, slightly wiser but still pitiful, hateful, scared, so, so scared.

I stare at Cal from my cell, his back is pressed tightly against the cavern's walls looking to a place far off. My family, what it became of them I do not know, but at least I can still hope they are safe. In my head I see them happy, oblivious to me and away in a strange land having escaped this war and living a better life.

Cal doesn't have that luxury, he saw first handed what became of his family, and knowing that I played a part in it is what keeps me from reaching through the iron cage. I want to tell him how sorry I am, for what he went through, for what I put him through and for what it will come to both of us. I wished I could tell him that I was trying to do the right thing, I just didn't know what that was.

I wanted to say all of that and more but I didn't know how to do it without making it look as if I was trying to pin the blame outside myself. So I sat with my head against the wall watching him remember better times.

Mere seconds pass before we hear steps coming down.

"If you come to gloat again Mavey, I'm really not in the fucking mood." Cal tone is so even and calm I can't tell whether he is angry or simply resigned. His face is covered in shadows, a mask keeping him safe.

"What a dirty mouth you've got there kid." A familiar and impossible voice speaks and I throw myself against the metal bars, trying to will her into appearing.

Was this another trick? Was she in this too?

Farley steps into the torch's light, her pose smug, confident but her cloths are torn, her skin bloodied and dirty.

"But no," She takes a key out of her hand and now it's Cal and I against the bars, looking at her intently. "I'm not here to gloat." The key opens Cal's door easily and she grabs him by the collar of his shirt, throwing him out of the cell in a swift motion.

"Run, find Kilorn he'll take you away from here." Cal stands still as if in shock and for the first time we hear the shouts and cries up stairs. What the hell is going on up there?

"If you want to die here, be my guest." She shrugged as if his life meant nothing, as if she doesn't care if whathever is happening up there gets to him. Farley takes another key from her pocket and Cal just looks at me, still confused.

"RUN!" I yell and he bolts up stairs and out of my sight. I hope he goes somewhere good. "What are you doing here?" I ask Farley as the door finally opens.

"Just having some fun." And the smile she gives me is so real and so scary that I can't help but laugh and be afraid at the same time. "We saw a chance to hit them hard, and we took it."

"What did you do?" Is my family alright? Is Kilorn safe?

"Started the revolution." She grabs my arm and we ran upstairs my heart pounding with fear and dangerous hope only to be greeted by a massacre. Red and silver blood sheds the stones and walls as corpses are laid in awkward positions in every corner in the small war room. We go through two more rooms with the same scenery, all corpses and no livings but the yells are somewhere in the palace, close, frightened.

We run even though the tiles are slippery from hot blood and I can't see anything besides Farley's hand closed around my arm. I let her guide me through the maze of halls and rooms I had gotten to know so well but that now, in the middle of a revolution, are no familiar to me. The screams and blasts get louder the second we come near the garden and when we bolt to the open space, a marble fountain crashes only inches from our heads.

"This way." I don't stop to see if the Silver who threw that piece of décor is chasing us, instead I hold onto Farley tighter and run, spreading a net of electricity behind us for as long as I can so that anybody who might want to chase us will get fried. We have to duck, jump and twirl every now and then and I have no idea how we manage to get through and into the main hall.

All I get to see is the bright diamond glass walls before the light flashes at my side, the explosion throwing us against the hard floor and then all I see is black.

I feel the electricity before I open my eyes, loud and vibrant and everywhere around the room. From the camera on the left corner, to the device connected to my heart and the cables running deep into the wall.

I can also feel him, but it's not because of any gift. No, it's the instinct of running when a predator comes in. I open my eyes only to make sure he is really there before making the last witty comment of my life to a complete stranger and I find myself in a white, sterile room with a needle into my arm going to a tube pumping a reddish liquid into me.

Maven is sitting not far from me and gets up when he sees I'm awake. This is my chance and Itake it, opening my hand fast to send the ray that will kill him once and for all.

But nothing happens.

I can feel the electricity in the room but I can't muster it up from inside me. My whole body feels numb and heavy. I try again and nothing. Again, and I'm starting to get tired and desperate. The more I fail the worst it gets.

"It won't do you any good to try." Maven says and I try again just to get him to shut up. Nothing.

"What do you want?" It's the first thing I can articulate. _Roth in hell_ and _eat my shit_ are close seconds. But I want to know, in a sick twisted way I need to know what tortures they have ready for me.

A small smile forms in his lips, as if enjoying a private joke. "Your hand in marriage, of course."

"How sweet, and will you chop it off with your new sword or just an old, rusty knife?" I really should stop giving advices. "I'm in no mood to be fuck around." I repeat Cal's words, this time Maven can hear them. Is he here too? Was he captured or did he manage to get away? And Farley and the guard? _Or was this all a lie?_ The thought scares me because I don't think I can ever trust anyone again.

"That's unfortunate to me, but not exactly in my plans Mare." Did he seriously just said that? "The palace was hit as you well know, and I will need my charming fiancé in this time of grief. My father died, you know?"

"Shut up," I muster the ray again but it won't come. I hate that he is doing this, that he's making me play his stupid game before he kills me but I really couldn't have expected anything less of him.

"I mean it Mare." He catches my hand and I freeze, expecting to be burned alive. Instead he holds it gently as his thumb rubs circles on my palm. I snatch it away.

"You have two choices, you can die as the nothing that you were, or you can live a long life by my side."

" _Shoot me now."_ Is what I want to say but something in his eyes stops me. He seems… lost. But that must be another trick.

"It's a little bit extreme for this siblings rivalry, don't you think? Especially since Cal couldn't give less of a shit." Surprisingly enough, the words don't hurt. "Does Elara know that you are doing this? Oh! Is she watching?" I look up to the camera and force a huge smile. "Hi there!" I wave my middle finger at it in a courteous move worthy of a high house lady.

"My mother is dead, so I hardly think she can have a say in the matter." He says in a bored voice, waving a hand as if it doesn't mean anything.

Does he really think I am that stupid? Well, I certainly gave him reason to believe so.

"Bullshit." There is no possible way that Elara is dead, there is no way that Maven is asking me to be his Red Queen.

"Don't you think she would be here right now, searching through your brain to find my brother's location?" I can't help it, my eyes go wide with shock before I can control it. Could Cal really be alive, or is Maven just using it to get something out of me?

"Oh yes, he escaped." He answers my unasked question. "You'll find I can be a most loyal and honest husband." He walks closer, his face inches from mine as he studies me but I do not flinch.

"What do you say Mare? Do you live," he traces my lips with his fingers. So warm and soft they used to be now I can feel the blood he has shed covering my mouth, drowning me. "Or you die?"

I have always been a coward; I have run from danger since I can remember. This whole mess started because I was too scared to face my life. But I discover that, as I look into Maven's eyes, it takes a lot of courage to say the stupidity that I do. Because I rather die fighting for a little bit of hope than dying a senseless death.

"I live."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi everybody! I'm so happy you guys liked this story, thanks to all who read, reviewed and followed! I love you all, so here it's the second chapter. Hope you like it!**

I am back to where it all started; a red girl trapped under make up, a piece in a game she never wanted to play. But now, _now_ I know the game is being played. It's not the King and Queen who keep me here to set an example for some lowly reds they care nothing for. I am the captured revolutionary, the last piece in Maven's spiteful game. He won't settle for hunting down the Scarlet Guard, for making of his brother a traitor and a murderer, a pariah. No, he'll flaunt me around like a mockery for all to see, _"Watch her dance and do my bidding. This is the only Red Queen you'll ever get, powerless against me, following my shadow."_

But I won't be powerless, not anymore, not even when this treatment Maven has put me through took my lightning away, I don't need it to have power. I tell myself this over and over as Maven and I walk to Elara´s final resting place. The reddish liquid he forced into my blood was an experiment, he said, using the mineral from the caves Cal and I were kept at to keep us from escaping with our abilities. It had never been done before, too dangerous to try on a person, and it wasn't as if there had been any gifted reds to use as Ginny pigs.

Until now.

I am meant to be daily revised by a professional that will determine my status and deliver a dosis that will keep me subdued, the ray just simmering below the surface, too weak to surface and hurt anybody. It made sense, for as much as Maven liked to play his stupid games, he wouldn't keep me alive if I could hurt him. I will hurt him.

We make our way through huge wooden doors, an odd contrast against the crystal walls, and into a breathtaking room. _The Eternal Rest_ room lived up to its name, the enormous place appeared like a major arena, but no fights were played here, no. The rows of seats, all exquisitely carved from class rose higher and higher around the room, so tall I could hardly see them all. In the middle of it rose two beds, tables would be a much better suited word for it since the two corpses were set on display for everyone to see. But unlike in the ceremonies after a hanging or shooting in our village, when the body of the criminal is laid out as a warning for everybody to see their cheap fate if they ever dare to oppose the rules, this is beautiful. Meant to restore greatness when there was only death left, beauty where there was sorrow. The King and Queen looked, even after death, regal, imposing, powerful. This was nothing shameful, and it was unsettling how much power they seemed to have even now. They are dead and I'm alive, and they still held more power than I.

Maven took me next to Elara´s side, his hand gently on my elbow. Ever since we left the infirmary after I sealed my fate he had been nothing but the grieving son, the dutiful fiancé and King.

I thought he had been lying when he said he would make it all go away, hide my true nature and my betrayal under the rug as if it were nothing. But as we walked here I saw the guards that threw me and Cal into those caves to roth, being taken away in a plastic bag. The further we walked, the more people nodded their condolences, too busy and scared as to bother Maven in that moment, the more I saw people who knew my secret, as part of the revolution's casualties. Their deaths however did not came from The Scarlet Guard. Everybody can betray anybody is a saying well used by silvers, their greedy nature too well known. The guards knew this as well as any other Silver, I just don't think they knew the betrayal would come from their King.

I walk closer to Elara's corpse, all too aware Maven's hand on my body and the closeness to the whisperer. I expect her to jump at any moment, her cold laugh filling the room in that way that made my hairs stand on end and start playing with my mind, with Maven laughing at her side.

I see the white line on her neck, the tissue carefully glued back into place for the ceremony and, despite my body being numb and the lightning unable to reach the surface of my skin, I can still feel the electricity in the air, running through cables behind the walls. It's not as strong as I remember, and I can't reach too far with it but I can still feel it, and I see the difference between Maven's body, the guards standing behind us and even myself, and the lifeless bodies of the King and Queen. They have no life, no spark, they are no longer here. That simple fact makes me feel better, safer as I know there are two less people to fight against, that there is no Elara to read my thoughts and ruin any plan I might have.

"Have you seen enough?" Maven's voice is not hard, or angry or mocking. It's devoid of anything, unreadable as he watches his mother's corpse. A little part of me wonders what he feels when he looks at her, lying on that table next to the man she hated and all but killed. A bigger part of me wonders how I could use it against him. A third part… I don't even want to know.

"Yes." Say.

"Good. Escort her to her chambers," he orders to the two guards behind us who take one mechanized step closer, their backs tall and proud. "You need to get ready for today." The funeral, televised to the entire nation. _What will they think of me, my family, Kilorn, Farley, Cal?_ He kisses my hand, quickly and leaves. Even in this deserted room he still plays the role of my fiancé. I follow the guards to my room, meeting more and more silvers now that they have left the safety of their hiding places in the Castle to visit the chaos that was left. They all salute me, as they always did, but there is something different now, stiffer and more polite. For a moment I think they know, they know what I am and they are planning something, but then I remember, I am the fiancé of the King now. I am their future Queen, it's not mockery what I saw but respect. Who would have guessed?

My reality is far from that, I am no Queen, no respectful person, just the same puppet on a different string _. I will make him pay_ , I promise to myself. _I will have him trust me like I trusted him, no matter how long it takes or what I have to do. He will trust me, and that day, that day I will kill him._


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to all who followed, reviewed and marked this story as favorite! It means a lot that you are enjoying it! Also, thanks to that guest reviewer who mentioned the spelling mistakes, don't be afraid to tell me if something bothers you! After all English is my second language.**

They are not the same, and I don't know why I am so surprised when I walk into my new room; a more _fitted_ room for a future Queen is what the guards said, and find that the servant red girls are not the same as the ones that took care of me for the last few months. Gone is the short and perky brunette who was always first in everything, ready to serve wordlessly to a girl who was clearly not Silver, but who never said a word about it. Gone is the tall blonde, who stayed in the back and made sure everything was perfect, from the towel position to the garments laid on the bed for me to wear. And gone is, too, the girl with the simple braid who laid little flower bouquets in my pillow, lavender, sweet Jasmine and honeysuckle tied together with a delicate ribbon. Small details that made of my time here a bit less lonely.

I didn't even know their names.

I don't know why it bothers me so much, why I thought they would be alive and well now that I was back, especially considering all they knew. If Maven had no problem killing his own guards, what were a few reds for him? It's ridiculous.

But as the guards leave me in the gigantic room, and the new girls undo themselves in bows and reverences, all I can think is how I never even knew their names, never even cared to know.

I thought I was doing what was right when I signed into the Scarlet guard. I did it was because I told myself it was enough. The silvers had taken my brother's life, I just wanted to stop them, to stop that empty feeling I got every time I reminded Shade from forming on another person, another sister, mother, daughter. That was what I told myself, at least.

That was the right reason, and so I wanted to believe that was why I was doing it but, besides my family what thought had I given to my actions? How come if I did everything for other reds I never thought of what would happen to them after the revolution? Not only Silver lives would be lost, they would fight back and try to maintain their domain over us, I knew that and yet I didn't care.

Had I really done it for them, or had I used it as an excuse to justify my actions? It sounded so much better and it was so much easier when what I did it was for the common good than simply to act out on revenge without caring who went down.

It was funny, but before I used to think I was worthless, pitiful but always oh so especial. I loved to wallow in my misery; nobody had it worse than me, the poor red girl with the parents who couldn't appreciate her because she wasn't like her sister. Did I ever felt guilty about the coins I stole from people who broke their backs to feed their families? People who lost food and health over a few minutes of my work on the shade as they melt in the burning sun?

No, because poor little Mare was justified, wasn't she? Poor little Mare was doing it for her family, but she never stopped to think of the ones she ruined. And I realize in this instant that it's not only Maven who has to die, but is old Mare who must go down too. The dark to Gisa's light, the shadow to Cal's flame are two sides of the same coin.

I have to change if I want to make this work.

"It's alright," my voice was firm but kind as I spoke and the maids stopped their shuffling to look at me with wide eyes. "I can bath on my own. What are your names?"

The three of them stood frozen, it's not common for a Silver to speak to a red with kindness, I never did, and if they do it's only for punishment, a cruel game to play on them.

One girl was so scared, she wouldn't even look at me, her eyes were pinned to the black crystal floor. The other two, so alike they had to be sisters, stood side by side. The taller one spoke first, barely able to contain the trembling in her voice but holding her chin high. From my etiquette lessons I learned about Reds too, and how a Silver should treat them and be treated by them. Those were the hardest parts of my training, and I still remember the anger flowing through me as I tried to contain the lighting from escaping and pulverizing the blood healer's smug smile.

A red would never look a Silver in the eyes, they had to remain head high but eyes low, never directly speaking with their superior unless it was requested for them to do so. A Silver could request anything they wanted from a Red, and as long as that servant was for their personal use, the demands may vary if you are a guest in a home and are being served by your hostess' servant. In that case they would explain which servants to fetch, though it would be impolite for a Silver not to lend a red as a worker if their guest demanded it so.

"My name is Eri, Your Highness." She looked at some point near my face for as long as she dared before bowing her head slightly and her sister immediately followed

"M-My name is Leri, Your Hi-Highness." The small red girl said, eyes casted down.

"I am Fillan, Your Highness." The last girl said, her eyes still glued to the floor.

 _Eri, Leri, Fillian, Eri, Leri, Fillian, Eri, Leri, Fillian, Eri, Leri, Fillian, Eri, Leri, Fillian, Eri, Leri, Fillian, Eri, Leri, Fillian._ I cannot forget.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you all." I managed to sound lady-like. The last thing I needed was for them to find something fishy, or to report back to Maven. Surely he had them by the troath, using the girls as spies to make sure I behaved. Two could play this game.

"But I like privacy as I bath, I'm sure you can understand. Why don't you help me and lay the options of gowns for me to choose for the ceremony today?"

"But-" The younger of the sisters stuttered and went quiet.

"Your Highness, King Maven has already chosen a garment for you." Her older sister finished for her. Of course he did, when it wasn't Elara it was him, controlling everything I did. But I knew that even though he was the King and this was his parents' ceremony we were attending, no lady of a high house, especially his fiancé, would be controlled on what she wore. She might be advised, or a compromise between the two families could be reached, but the same went for the groom. I had to keep appearances up.

"And how _kind_ it was of him." I said with a disinterested shrug, as if it was nothing but a simple gift from him, a gesture of sorts. "But I have more than one option. Please, if you would be so kind."

I could see the hesitation in them, and I hated to put them in a position that would endanger them, but if I were to treat them any different or tried to reach out to them in some way Maven would notice, and the danger they would be in would much worse. I had to act as Lady Mareena Titanos, engaged to Norta's King, and she was not afraid.

"Lovely garments." Maven casually commented as we waited in the adjoining room for the ceremony to begin. He was dressed in his ever present dark suit, with silver trimming on the sides. A simple cut, modest and amplified by the elaborate embroidery on the cuffs, neck and pockets; small silver flames that made his suit look like it was on fire, slowly consuming the fabric. He looked powerful, burning but cold, smart but unreachable. He looked like a beautiful monster.

"I know, I picked them out myself." I sighed with false modesty. I had eventually chosen the black dress Maven had sent for me, after pretending to go over my options over and over, combining dresses with silk and leather belts, boots and sandals. Lady Mareena always took her time to look as good as she knew she was. Of course I still had to have something different, a small detail to show Maven (and myself) that I was my own person. I was starting to understand his games better now, and I knew Maven would get bored if I simply played along. He wanted a challenge, a chase or he would get rid of me. That was the reason behind my small ruby pendants. Red. Such an ugly color for a Silver.

His only response was a small smile.

 **I'm sorry for the short chapter, I have been really busy lately and this was the best I could manage. The story will pick up soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I am so, sooo sorry I haven't posted anything in such a long time! Shame on me! I hope this chapter makes up a bit for that**

 **On another note, who are you imagining in the roles of Maven and Mare? For me Maven is a mix between Styles and void Styles (huge Dylan o'Brien fan, as you can see.) If you guys don't know about Stiles, you better Google him up right now! Lol, and tell me what you think ;)**

"Oh don't look so down," Maven says in a condescending tone, his slender fingers twisting around the crystal cup on the table as he takes it to his slips, barely hiding his smile. "You look lovely."

I look like a traitor.

After the burial ceremony, protocol dictates a day mourning, which means the close of the markets, shops and any business that was not of primary importance of the entire Kingdom, leaving every Red and Silver with no choice but to stay home and hang a black curtain over their houses' windows. I never knew a Mourning Day in my life, but my mom and dad did, with the death of King Kortet the II, Maven's grandfather. But neither my mom nor my father's family could afford fabric curtains back then and so we had panels of wood painted black, a luxury acquired by my mom's mother when she salvaged them from an abandoned Silver summer house. The paint was chipped and scratched after so many years and when my brothers left, the black wood was used to close their bedroom, so what little heat we had was not wasted in empty rooms.

 _One day they'll be back._ I remember telling Gisa one afternoon after she stood crying in front of their room after Shade had left. We had both been so young and frightened, we felt like our family was being torn apart to never be put back together again. I had been just as scared as she was, but I had held her hand and promised her everything would be alright. One day the black would be gone.

Most people had to stay home, Silvers would indulge in alcohol-heavy gatherings where they would mourn the death of their King and Queen. Reds would stay in their homes, cold and frightened and praying to God no Silver thought of taking their pain and anger on them. Then there were the news reporters, they of course had to cover the events of the burial, and since Maven and I retrieved to a private dinner, I am left to watch the enormous screen showing the ceremony to the Kingdom.

And I get to see the time when Maven announces our wedding date.

Five days. In only five days we'll be married, if I get to live that long. As Maven dines his roasted beef and sips his cup of wine, I am left sitting at his side my gaze fixed on the moment our hands join and the crowd roars with excitement.

I look cold and composed, a true silver. The cameras can't capture the crippling fear I was suffering at that moment, the shame and worry. Was my family watching this? Was Cal? And Kilorn? The Guard? Of course they were, and I could already imagine what they were thinking of me. Traitor, coward, _idiot._

It doesn't matter. I have to convince myself of that, it doesn't matter what they think of me, what names they are calling me in the dark. I have a plan, and I'll carry it through no matter what.

Still, regardless of my resolution I can't help but thinking what happens if I do make it through and live to the wedding day and _past that_. The bedding ceremony must happen on the wedding night, and my stomach turns and revolts at the idea of Maven touching me, I won't dare to think how it will be like that night. Will he taunt me? Surely. Beat me? Humiliate me? Will he get pleasure from seeing me hurt and scared? Probably, and that is why I can't show any fear, I won't give him _that_ satisfaction.

I stare down at my plate, the white porcelain shimmering with golden tones as the sun sets behind us. The food looks delicious, there is chicken with orange sauce and stuffed with almond butter, flower salads adorn each corner of the table, its beautiful colors bringing up life into the otherwise dark and lonely room. There is mushroom and red wine risotto, pork so tender it falls apart when the forks touches it… and I can't stand the thought of eating any of it. Instead, the jar of wine looks much more tempting.

I reach to grab it but a tall servant beats me to it, lifting the jar swiftly and pouring red wine into my cup.

"My apologies, Your Grace." He says with his head down and for a moment I stay silent, trying to understand why he is apologizing for until I realize that I'm not _supposed_ to reach for things, that they should be handed to me. The idea is so utterly stupid, I'm about to laugh until I see Maven's cold stare to the man and so I talk before anything can happen.

"That's alright, thank you."

I try my best effort at a comforting smile, but the man still bows his head down and leaves quickly.

"Oh, the savior of the poor reds." Maven comments disdainfully once the man is out of sight. "I'm starting to think keeping you here was not my brightest idea."

My body stiffens at the subtle threat, the idea that he doesn't want me here can mean only one thing, he can dispose of me without effort. But I won't let him intimidate me, he could have killed me and yet he didn't, whatever he wants me for, I'll be alive.

"You were never the bright brother," I say, my tone casual as I use the one thing I know it will hurt him the most, even though I know it's not true. "Cal was so much better at it all."

I lift my gaze and find his face stone cold, no anger or jealousy, only dead silence.

"Yet I'm here." He says draining his cup in one gulp, "and he is a rat running on the streets."

"Vicious creatures rats are, they'll bit you the second they can and they'll hit you when you least expect it."

His only answer was silence.

I kept working on my plate, only moving my food around since I didn't feel like doing anything else, until a thought came to mind.

"What about my family?"

"They ran away with the rest of the filth."

I clutch my fork tighter, willing myself not to stab his hand with it. _They are not filth._

"I mean Mareena's family, my parents were killed but House Titanos was large, and so was my mother's side, how come has no one tried to visit me, their kind and future Queen?"

It was a long shot he would answer that much, but I had always wondered what had happened to those people, I had assumed I was kept away so they wouldn't notice how different from my parents I was and raised suspicion on my heritage, but what excuses were it given to them? It had to be unusual to be kept away from my family, especially when my "parents" had been killed and I had been lost for so long only to reappear in such a public way.

"Who says they haven't?" Maven said, raising a brow and called another servant for more wine. His face was starting to flush white and there was a little slur to his words, the alcohol making effect. "But they can't see you, not unless you want this little charade to over too soon."

"But if they don't get to see me, don't you think they won't get suspicious?" I remembered my lessons, and ladys did not lose contact with their families once they were engaged, on the contrary. Silvers took great pride in their houses and the joining of them through marriage was a reason to celebrate.

"If they can't see me, they'll start talking and it won't take long before somebody starts digging up things they shouldn't."

Maven studies me from his seat, his eyes searching for something in my face but what that is, I do not know.

"Why do you want to see them? You never asked about them before. What are you planning?"

"I don't particularly want to see them," I say carefully, treading through my words as if one false step could be my death, which is not too far from the truth. "But I'm pretty keen on living, Maven, as you might have realized by now, otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here with you, and if they don't get to see their lost Mareena, it won't take long until they find something about me, and then what will you do? Take down two houses just to keep it a secret? Ten? Twenty?"

His silence was answer enough and I let myself show a smile. The wine really was taking a toll in his mind.

"I didn't think so. Bring them here, let me talk to them and we can keep this contained before it goes too far." He remained silent still, and before he could think against it I added; "imagine what people would think if they discovered that you tried to pass off a Red as a Silver, and as their Queen, no less. Had I been your mistress they wouldn't have bated an eye about it," we all knew that Reds and Silvers didn't mix, and that Silvers consider us less to even _think_ of bedding us, and yet those cases were not uncommon. Red servants and a lonely Lady or Lord, even in the war with the Silver generals and the Red foot soldiers sparks could fly. It was more common than one would like to think of. Nobody would say anything against Maven if he had a red mistress, and I'm sure his father had more than a few but actually marrying one… "If your people discover that you married a Red, well… who could stop _that_ revolution?"

"Fine," he bit out, "but I'll be there during the meeting."

"Wouldn't that be too suspicious?" If Maven or Elara hadn't let Mareena's family to see her then it would be conveniently strange for Maven to be there, monitoring whatever it is we might say or do to each other.

"I will be there." He said more sternly. "And there is no discussion."

"Fine." I replied in his equally cold tone.

I retired to my chambers shortly after that as he continued to dwell on his food. He didn't kiss my hand or tried to approach me in any way, something I was incredibly glad of.

But that night I could not sleep, my skin was trembling with the electricity running through the walls of my room. I felt it, stronger now and prickling under me, waiting to be released and yet, when I tried to summon the spark there was something stopping me, a barrier between the energy in my body and the outer world.

The power was still there, tempting me, taunting me with its closeness and infuriating me. The more I concentrated, the more I could feel everything, the energy in me and the buzz in the walls, running, pulsing, screaming at me but I couldn't tap it.

I turned in my bed and groaned, annoyed. That was when there was a knock on the door.

I sat up straight in bed, sensing the electricity of two bodies beyond that door but with no clue on who they might be. Guards? Maven? What could he possibly want? I didn't let my mind wander too long in that thought, instead I covered myself up with the blankets and held tight a knife I had stolen from dinner.

"Who is it?" I forced my voice to remain strong, commanding but it sounded too loud in the silence, and I flinched.

"It's me." Maven's voice sounded through the door. I did not put the knife down. "Unlock the door, or I'll go through it anyways."

"What do you want?" I asked, not willing to open it just yet, though knowing full well he could open it if he wanted to, why he hadn't done it just yet it was a mystery.

"I want you to open the door."

I groaned in annoyance.

"What for?"

"… so that it gets opened."

"Uggghh." Maybe it was because I wanted to maintain a semblance of security, of control and having Maven destroying my bedroom door to get in would shatter what little confidence I had at the moment. Whatever the reason was, I yanked the door opened.

Beside him there was no guard, but rather a man in a medical attire. My heart began pounding against my chest at the sight, my mind immediately running with ideas of what this man might do to me.

"Wha-?"

"This is the healer in charge of you, Mare." Maven spoke evenly as the man in the uniform made a small bow and entered my chamber. I didn't miss how he used my real name, and not Mareena. "He'll be in charge of administrating the medicine you need."

I turned around, not quite giving my back to Maven, just in case, and saw how the man took a bag with dark red liquid inside, the same color of the one that had been dripping into my arm when I woke up after the blast. That was the thing that took my lighting away, what kept me from being a problem to Maven.

His little science project.

"How have you been feeling, Mare?" The dark man asked. "I know this treatment is… unconventional but The King has made us make sure it is completely safe." His fingers trembled as he fumbled with the syringe and the needle, and he glanced anxiously at Maven. It seemed I wasn't the only one here against my will but, could I use it to my advantage?

"Besides having no powers? Perfectly." I say sarcastically.

"So you are not capable of producing any lightening? How about manipulating electronic devices, can you do that?"

"No," I say through gritted teeth, hating to be confessing this weakness in front of Maven, especially since he is the one who caused it. "It is just like when before falling in the field." I keep to myself the fact that, even though I can't produce electricity I can still feel it inside me, in his beating wrist clock, the cameras in the walls watching me even when I'm asleep. The less they know the better.

"That's great." He says cheerfully, ignorant of my mood. Probably his life depends on his success. "We believe you are ready to receive a smaller dose, in a month or two we will see the results and see whether you are ready to switch to something even lighter."

I only nodded as the man tied a piece of rubber on my upper arm and started searching for a vein.

"Will this happen every night?"

"Yes," to my surprise, Maven was the one to reply. He had stepped closer, now watching the doctor's work by the night stand, only a few feet from me. "The dose has to be delivered daily for it to work."

"And we wouldn't want that, of course."

"You wouldn't want it either." He says and when I lift my eyebrow he clarifies. "The serum is experimental, so not every aspect and side effect could be corrected properly. If you leave or stop receiving this doses your body will feel it badly."

"How badly?" I ask, not entirely believing him. He could be saying it just as another way to keep me in check, to make me afraid of stop taking this medication that keep my powers at bay. And yet… it was a pretty ingenious idea. Stuffing me with something that stripped me down of my powers, making me weak while at the same time making it impossible for me to quit it. He could have just put it in the formula on purpose.

"Very. There is also the chance that, if your powers are free again you won't be able to control them, they will be too strong you to stop it."

"Well," I say nonchalantly as if I didn't care, as if I didn't suffer from what he said. "Then it's a good thing I have _you_ to keep me safe."

The healer connects the bag into the needle and I see the liquid entering my arm, slow but certain, stripping me away of my lightening with every drop.

 _It's alright._ I have to know that, I don't need powers to beat him.

I draw my eyes away from the needle stuck in my arm and to Maven again, who is now looking at some spot in the wall before him deliberately ignoring me.

I can't help but compare him to the boy I knew, the one who had been my only ally when I first came here. Who had shown me kindness when all I had done was sneer in his face. I had hated him, hated his power, his birth rank and everything he represented, the silver power. But I had underestimated how much I had come to rely on him as a friend. I didn't know how much I relied on him until he was gone.

No, he had never been there to begin with. He had lied and deceived. The Maven I had known was not the one standing near me now.

Maven had been shy, the shadow to Cal's flame, he had been slim where Cal was buffed, soft when Cal was loud, he had been practically a boy, so young and happy and out of place with all that silvers should be.

The real maven was nothing of the sort, he stood proud and confident, all traces of insecurity replaced by tactical knowledge. He had always been attractive, all silvers were, but now it was different, there was a different edge on him, a cruel beauty of sorts that made him incredibly attractive and fearsome at the same time.

I had kissed him once and a small, insane part of me wondered what it would feel like to kiss him now.

The healer finished after a few minutes and both left with the reassurance that they would be back the night to follow, and the next, and the next. Apparently it would be too suspicious to go back to actual infirmary each day, and so they'll come to my room.

I slept restlessly that night, when finally sleep came my dreams were plagued with a cave, its walls coming closer and closer until they crushed me, but they weren't made of stone, instead I drowned in a dark red serum.

It was during the night, one of those times when I wake up only to fall into nightmares soon after that I felt the paper in my hand. Remembering the cameras watching, I turned to make it seem that I was still asleep and unfolded the note under the sheets.

With the moonlight streaming from the window I could see, barely, but clear as day those five words that I knew so well.

 _Rise, red as the dawn._

 **So, what did you think, loved it? Hated it? Kind of boring?**

 **Also the cover for Glass Sword came out recently, what did you guys think about it? I personally loved it! Just a few more months until it's out!**

 **I had been meaning to ask you, you have all read and loved Red Queen (I'm assuming, since otherwise we would be here reading and writing fanfiction!) but what other books have you read and loved? Do you like to write fanfics too? I would love to get to know you guys, if you would like!**

 **I am currently reading A Court of Thorns and Roses, The Wrath and the Dawn, Shatter Me and The Kiss of Deception. Yeah, I'm one of those horrible people who reads a million books at a time :P**


	5. Chapter 5

***hides in shame and sorrow* OH MY GOD! Has it really been a year since I last updated this fic? God I'm so embarrassed! Life got in the way, plus I kind of lost inspiration… but I'm just a terrible person. I'm so sorry!**

 **I want to thank all of you who reviewed, favorited and followed in hopes that this story would be updated! And special thanks to DeltaBlairLines for your encouraging messages!**

 **In case there's anybody out there who still wants to read this, here's a short chapter from Maven's POV!**

The words resonated on the crystal throne room.

I clenched my fists, trying to will the rage at bay so I could focus on the task at hand, but the flames came to me regardless illuminated the darkness with a crimson glow.

"When did he arrive?" My voice was calmed and composed, but I heard the guard behind me suck in a breath. He knew well enough that I wasn't trying to reassure him, that I was barely containing the rage inside me. Bad things happened to those who delivered bad news to me, that much was known.

When the guard took too long to answer I snapped, and in a motion to fast for him to notice I turned around and threw my flames at his feet.

The soldier's face was young, barely a few years older than myself, and when it had been first covered in shadows my flames light up his whole features, showing me how he went from fear to pain.

He let out an inhuman cry when the heat churned his boots and got to his bones. He kept screaming as he fell, limbs flailing while trying to put out the fire that was burning him alive.

"I said," my voice rose higher so the remaining three guards in the room could hear me beyond the screaming of their peer. "WHEN DID HE ARRIVE?"

"Just two days ago, your Majesty." One of them bowed as he answered, his words stumbling one over the other so as not to suffer from the same fate as the man now squirming on the ground.

I looked at each soldier face. It was still night, even though dawn was fast approaching, and the enormous throne room's only light now came from the man screaming, and my fists aflame. Content with the fear I saw in their expression, I suffocated the fire. The soldier on the ground started weeping. I ignored him.

"So you are telling me, that my brother and that filthy band of Red rebels got to Lakelander territory, our enemy's territory, two days ago and I'm hearing of this just now?"

The soldier who had answered now gulped, clearly disturbed by my response. But what could he expect? A pat on the back for telling me two days later that Cal had gone over to our enemies in search for a truce? All to take me away from the throne that was rightfully mine.

"Sir," another soldier came forward. His name was Mallery, Mal for short. I remembered him well, he had been a soldier in the castle since I was fifteen and had always been dedicated to his job. He was more experienced too, unlike the other members of his squad. "We had been investigating the movements of the so called Scarlet Guard as you requested. A week ago we captured a member and interrogated him for the intel of the group's location. When we discovered where your… the traitor was, we came directly here since you'd ordered us to discuss this kind of information in private and avoid any means of communication in case of foul play. But with the attack in the south, the railway road was cut off, we had no other choice but to come through other, slower means of transport."

I remembered the attack. A bomb planted by lakelander forces that had gotten in during the chaos of the Scarlet Guard's plan to take over the monarchy. A risk Elara and I knew could happen. But that didn't make up for the fact that Cal was now working for our country's enemy and I had learned about it two days later.

"Go back, gather more intel but don't engage just yet. I want them alive, for now." I took one last glance at the young soldier who was still whimpering on the floor. "And for the love of God, take this man away from me. Pathetic."

The three soldiers rushed to obey, and soon I was left alone to my own thoughts.

My eyes wandered back to the throne, and I saw my mother again as she had been in her last moments. The shock, the realization and the rage. Never fear, she was beyond that. But the rage when she realized that her own son had betrayed her. She hadn't said a word, but I could see it plainly in her eyes; the disappointment that I wasn't strong enough.

But she was wrong. I was strong, I was worthy. I had proved it to Cal, who always thought I had been nothing but a simpering shadow, I had proved it to my Father who never saw my betrayal coming. I had proved it to Mare… even if I still felt like I had something to prove to her. And I had proved it to my mother.

I was worthy. I was royalty. I was the King of Norta.


End file.
